In January 2007, NMFS released the Alaska Groundfish Harvest Specifications Final EIS in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. The Final EIS provides decision-makers and the public with an evaluation of the environmental, social, and economic effects of alternative harvest strategies for the federally managed groundfish fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) and the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI). The EIS examines alternative harvest strategies that comply with Federal regulations, the Fishery Management Plans for the GOA and BSAI groundfish fisheries, and the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The harvest strategies are applied to the best available scientific information to derive the total allowable catch amounts for the groundfish fisheries.

NMFS will release the Record of Decision in February, 2007.

FINAL EIS

• Alaska Groundfish Harvest Specifications Final EIS, January 2007
• Dear Reviewer Letter
• Notice of Availability
• Record of Decision, February 2007
• ERRATA
• News Release, January 2007

PUBLIC SCOPING

NMFS held a public scoping meeting in April and accepted written comments from the public to determine the issues of concern and the appropriate range of management alternatives to be addressed in the EIS.

• Scoping Report, June 2006
• Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS, March 2006

REQUEST FORM

RELATED DOCUMENTS

• Tips for Submitting Effective Public Comments



• Alaska Groundfish Fisheries Final Programmatic Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement



• Groundfish Harvest Specifications Environmental Assessments



• BSAI and GOA Groundfish Fishery Management Plans



• North Pacific Stock Assessment Reports



• A Guide to Stock Assessment of Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Groundfish